CHRISTOPHER CHANCE, better known as The Human Target, made his actual debut way back in 1958 in Gang Busters #61, and would has been nothing more than a forgotten one-shot, had he not reappeared in the back pages of Action Comics in the early seventies.

From that point on, he began to show up every now and then, usually as a back-up feature, in several other DC Comics. He was a bodyguard and master of disguise who offered a unique service: for a fee, he would impersonate people who feel their lives are threatened, as a way of drawing out the killer. In his very first case, he assumed the identity of a businessman aboard a train in order to intercept a murder attempt.

He also made an appearance, along with a slew of other DC gumshoes, including Slam Bradley and Roy Raymond, in a special story, "The 'Too Many Crooks...' Caper", in the 500th issue of Detective Comics.

A TV pilot, starring former pop star Rick Springfield as Christopher Chance, now a Vietnam vet and P.I/bodyguard, was produced in 1990, but it, and seven subsequent episodes were only aired in 1992 as a TV summer replacement series, In this version, for ten percent of a client's annual income ("whether you're a busboy or the king of England"), he would take the client's place and protect his or her life. Philo Marsden was an eccentric computer genius who helped Chance by designing high-tech masks, and Jeff Carlyle was the chauffeur, cook and pilot for Chance's mobile base of operations, the Blackwing (designed by Mike "The Shadow" Kaluta). Lilly Page was an ex-CIA agent who helped coordinate Chance's missions.

Unfortunately, the show was put up against the Olympics! Andy Mangels, in his Hollywood Heroes column, which ran in Wizard and Amazing Heroes, wrote ""Fans are urged to watch the enjoyable espionage show now, because it will likely never be back on the air!"

Back in 1991, around the time the TV show was "supposed" to have aired, DC released a very good Human Target one-shot tie-in, written by Mark Verheiden, and drawn by (PI fan and NOIR contributor) Rick Burchett, with inks by Dick Giordano, the artist of many of Chance's original adventures. The story incorporated the supporting cast and elements from the TV show (including the plane) but Chance still looked like Chance -- grey temples and all -- rather than like Rick Springfield ("Thank God!" according to contributor Chris Mills).

Evidently, fellow DC Comics eye Jonny Double also created by Wein and Marv Wolfman, was originally conceived as the "Disguise Expert/Bodyguard," but that fell through, and Jonny became a pretty standard-issue tough PI. The concept was later dusted off, though, and The Human Target made his debut in theearly seventies in the back pages of Action Comicst. Both Chance and Double occasionally appeared in back-up stories in other character's magazines, as well as an occasional guest stars in their stories. And, like Double, a newer, darker Chance was later brought back under the Vertigo imprint, in a sly 1999 miniseries, scripted by Peter Milligan (of Johnny Nemo fame). It asked the obvious question: if you've spent you're life being other people, how much claim do you have on your own identity? One of the nice touches in the mini-series was that Chance -- whoever he was -- had an office in The Bradbury Building in Los Angeles, a long-running favorite of private eye films and TV shows.

The mini-series proved successfull enough that it spawned an original graphic novel, Human Target: Final Cut (2002) and a new monthly series, both written by Milligan. The series ran for a couple of years, and garnered a fair share of acclaim, with each successive story arc having Chance burrow a little deeper into the darkness as the cost of always being someone else continues to take its emotional and psychological toll. Until the final, head-spinning three-part arc, "The Stealer," which features the return of a former protegée, Tom McFadden, a washed-up cop and second rate private eye he took under his wing for a time, who has decided only one identity will keep him sane -- that of Christopher Chance. The only problem is that the real Chance is in the way...

But it turns out you can't keep a good man down, even if he isn't quite sure who he is, after all. In 2010, Fox-TV launched a new TV series, starring Mark Valley as Chance.

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COMICS

GANGBUSTERS
(DC Comics)

"The Human Target" (January 1958, #61)The Human Target first began appearing regularly in the early 70's as a back up in Action Comics, and later in The Brave and the Bold and Detective Comics as well, but his first appearance was way back in Showcase #61 in 1958..

The Human Target: Chance Meetings (Vertigo, 2010)...Buy this bookWritten by Peter Milligan, with art by Edvin Biukovic and Javier Pulido and a new cover by Tim Bradstreet, this is a re-issue, that collects the original four-issueVertigo title and the follow-up standalone Final Cut that inspired the new Fox TV series. Private eye and security specialist Christopher Chance will do almost anything to protect a client -- up to and including impersoning them.